This vast throng of spectators is in total awe of the Buddha, sitting majestically upon his royal Lion throne. As they circumambulate-round him clockwise seven times, they lay down at his feet a spectacular parasol (a canopy):

As soon as all these precious parasols had been laid down, suddenly, by the miraculous power of the Lord, they were transformed into a single precious canopy so great that it formed a covering for this entire billion-world galaxy. The surface of the entire billion-world galaxy was reflected in the interior of the great precious canopy, where the total content of this galaxy could be seen: limitless mansions of suns, moons, and stellar bodies; the realms of the devas, nagas, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, and mahoragas, as well as the realms of the four Maharajas; the king of mountains, Mound Sumeru; Mount Himadri, Mount Mucilinda, Mount Mahamucilinda, Mount Gandhamadana, Mount Ratnaparvata, Mount Kalaparvata, Mount Cakravada, Mount Mahacakravada; all the great oceans, rivers, bays torrents, streams, brooks, and springs; finally, all the villages, suburbs, cities, capitals, provinces, and wildernesses. All this could be clearly seen by everyone. And the voices of all the Buddhas of the ten directions could be heard proclaiming their teachings of the Dharma in all the worlds, the sounds reverberating in the space beneath the great precious canopy. At this vision of the magnificent miracle effected by the supernatural power of the Lord Buddha, the entire host was ecstatic, enraptured, astonished, delighted, satisfied, and filled with awe and pleasure. They all bowed down to the Tathagata, withdrew to one side with palms pressed together, and gazed upon him with fixed attention.

Billion-world galaxy(Skt-trisahasramahasahasralokadhatu): Robert Thurman’s note describes this cosmic wonder:

“Lit…three-thousand-great-thousand-world-realm. Each of these is composed of one thousand realms, each of which contains one thousand realms=one thousand to the third power=one billion worlds.”

Quite a mind conundrum when one considers Buddhist cosmology.

One of the young bodhisattvas present, Ratnakara (whom Thurman states has reached the tenth stage [Dharma cloud] of Bodhisattvahood), praises the Blessed One with a hymn and inquires about the nature of the Buddha-fields. The Buddha responds:

The Buddha said, “Noble sons, a buddha-field of bodhisattvas is a field of living beings. Why so? A bodhisattva embraces a buddha-field to the same extent that he causes the development of living beings. He embraces a buddha-field to the same extent that living beings become disciplined. He embraces a buddha-field to the same extent that, through entrance into a buddha-field, living beings are introduced to the buddha-gnosis. He embraces a buddha-field to the same extent that, through entrance into that buddha-field, living beings increase their holy spiritual faculties. Why so? Noble son, a buddha-field of bodhisattvas springs from the aims of living beings.

We can see that a Buddha-field is essentially one that is heavily influenced by a living Buddha—it is a Mind-being, a living idea or Dream of a Buddha—in this sense, YOU are a Dream of a living Buddha, whose field of influence encompasses your own Bodhi-Mind development; a Buddha-field is the nursery of the developing Bodhichild, through which a bodhisattva is spiritually developed through ten mystical stages leading to the mark of Tathagatahood, wherein this mystical-child becomes a member of the Tathata Family…essentially celebrating Mind’s Nirvana.

So, one could say that a Buddha-field is also a Mind-School…one that nurtures the developing gotra (Bodhi-seed) with all the attributes that constitute the self-realization of Noble Wisdom. Hence, the Blessed One commences to describe to Ratnakara all these noble attributes—empathically stating that “purity” is the noble mark and sign that a given Buddha has influenced such a Mind-field development:

The purity of his buddha-field reflects the purity of living beings; the purity of the living beings reflects the purity of his gnosis; the purity of his gnosis reflects the purity of his doctrine; the purity of his doctrine reflects the purity of his transcendental practice; and the purity of his transcendental practice reflects the purity of his own mind.

Next we have good ol’ Sariputra, as he is apt to do often in numerous Sutras, tossing in a monkey-wrench to gum-up the Buddha’s noble deliberations:

Thereupon, magically influenced by the Buddha, the venerable Sariputra had this thought: “If the buddha-field is pure only to the extent that the mind of the bodhisattva is pure, then, when Sakyamuni Buddha was engaged in the career of the bodhisattva, his mind must have been impure. Otherwise, how could this buddha-field appear to be so impure?”

He is saying that if the present saha-realm—which is a sad, soiled reality indeed—is somehow an indicative reflection of Sakyamuni Buddha’s influence…then his own Mind must surely be impure.

The Buddha uses the analogy of the sun and moon…asking if their noble light is somehow intrinsically impure because a blinded one cannot see it…or does the fault lie within the clouded mind of the blinded one himself? As Sariputra answers correctly that the fault lies within the soiled mind of the blind, the Blessed One says that, in like fashion, those who somehow perceive this Buddha-field to be impure is a direct result from their own blinding ignorance (avidya) and not the intrinsic purity of the field.

Next we are treated to a nice little dharma-battle between Sariputra and a great Brahma named Sikhin—who commences by scolding him:

Then the Brahma Sikhin said to the venerable Sariputra, “Reverend Sariputra, do not say that the buddha-field of the Tathagata is impure. Reverend Sariputra, the buddhafield of the Tathagata is pure. I see the splendid expanse of the buddha-field of the Lord Sakyamuni as equal to the splendor of, for example, the abodes of the highest deities.

Sariputra fires back with, yeah, right…you see splendor everywhere, yet I can detect all the highs and the lows within this Saha-realm…the good AND the bad…and it really stinks! Are we on the same page, man???

But the Brahma spits back with:

Brahma Sikhin replied, “The fact that you see such a buddha-field as this as if it were so impure, reverend Sariputra, is a sure sign that there are highs and lows in your mind and that your positive thought in regard to the buddha-gnosis is not pure either. Reverend Sariputra, those whose minds are impartial toward all living beings and whose positive thoughts toward the buddha-gnosis are pure see this buddha-field as perfectly pure.

What happens next simply has to be the most fun-packed action sequence in the whole of sutra-literature…in order to quiet-down this dharma-battle mess before it goes even further:

Thereupon the Lord touched the ground of this billion-world-galactic universe with his big toe, and suddenly it was transformed into a huge mass of precious jewels, a magnificent array of many hundreds of thousands of clusters of precious gems, until it resembled the universe of the Tathagata Ratnavyuha, called Anantagunaratnavyuha. Everyone in the entire assembly was filled with wonder, each perceiving himself seated on a throne of jeweled lotuses.

I just love that image of the Buddha’s big-toe stirring around this whole billion-world enterprise like it was some kind of galactic stew. It then becomes transformed into an all pervasive treasure-chest with everyone present perceiving themselves seated on a majestically jeweled lotus flower. The Blessed One uses this apt image to indicate that it all boils down to one thing—what the Mind perceives becomes its own reality. Sure, if one focuses on shit—then ones perception of the Buddha-field will be a most smelly one indeed. On the other hand, if one remains prior to all the “bull-shit”, then the Buddha-field will empower one to transcend all the crap of samsara, (it’s all just dust in the wind) focusing instead on the absolute splendor and purity of the Dharmakaya Itself.

Having now been purified from all their previous improper mind-conceptions of just what constitutes a purified field of a Tathagata, this chapter comes to an end as the assembly cleanses their Dharma-eye anew.

Tags: Buddha-field, perception, Robert Thurman, Vimalakirti Sutra

Mardi Gras is fast approaching with its vast array of spectacular shapes and colors all manifesting into one great orgy, indulging and gorging (Fat Tuesday) oneself before the solemn season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. After studying the Lanka, it’s apparent that this event serves as a metaphor to the greatest movable feast of them all—the Alaya vijnana. You will find in the archive here numerous references to two contrasting principles: The Unmoving Principle and the Moving Principle. It wasn’t apparent until once again going over the Lanka in depth that these two principles can be seen in light of the “twin” effect: the Tathagata garbha and the Alaya vijnana. As we have seen through the study of the Lanka, these two terms are interchangeable as their essential stature is linked together as a mirrored reflection of the womb of suchness: tathata. The Tathagata garbha is Unmoving, motionless, yet utterly dynamic in Its ability to initiate contact with its quite vivacious twin, the Alaya vijnana; although not positioned in the realm of movement, It, in effect, “turns away” from its position-less stature in the Unborn and somehow becomes (animates) enraptured with the moving antics (animations) of Its precocious sibling—something that the Hindu’s describe as Shiva-dancing.

The emphasis within this particular blog is on the Alaya-vijnana and its ability to mirror the animating aptitude of its consanguineous rival, the Tathagata garbha. When not acted upon, this Alaya (receptacle) remains perfectly calm—motionless, just like its counterpart. Yet, once movement is initiated, it becomes a most overly-active child indeed—exploding in a vast array of kaleidoscope activity. This activity is what fascinates the unwary mind and entraps it into the unending chain of events known as dependent origination—perpetually spinning round and round on the rapid roller-coaster ride known as samsara. In this sense, the Alaya vijnana (elements of consciousness) is the absolute master of the saha world; it is the vast reservoir of all images (projections) par excellence. It is Mara’s playground. It also reeks of extreme extrovertism. It is what rules the roost in samsara, heavily and noisily activating its commercialized (endless array of images) patterns over and over and over. It is patterned reality itself and thus truly illusional and delusional in its inability to see that it is just a mirrored reflection of the animating Mind—distorted, just like in a fun-house filled with aberrated mirrors. Yes, it is like an endless run of commercials bombarding the senses (skandhic prism) with an insatiable appetite. Quite a nasty little brat indeed; yet, it is worshipped and held in highest esteem with the powers that be in the saha-kingdom. It is the evil clown on Mardi Gras day because the joke is always on the perceiver of its nefarious antics. It is the no-self (perceiver) as opposed to the Self (not dependent upon perceptions). It is what you see (perceive) as your own apparent reality. It is what holds you spellbound with an incapacity to escape from its ever watchful hold. It is the watcher in the night, making sure that you are always beholden to it alone. It exploits your every move. It is what you Google now with the nefarious ads popping up everywhere on your shoulders and making sure that it’s always inside your head knowing your every move and desire. The grand puppeteer making sure that you dance to its every whim within its movable feast. Yes, it is every move you make and every breath you take…

Tags: Alaya vijnana, animation, Mardi Gras, perception, projections, saha world, tathagata-garbha

When one transcends beyond the narrow confines of the sensate faculties (skandhas), the overlords of samsara itself, there is a growing sense of up-rootedness and even fear and trembling at the prospect of surrendering even one’s will into the realm of the unknowable. Yet, taking that next step beyond is a decision to leave behind all former known modes of perception that were, in reality, hindering the adept from entering into the undiscovered and imageless path of the Sacred Unknowable. This essential step is like entering into a Cloud of Unknowing, or what the Buddha would call the Dharmamegha, or Dharma-cloud. Once entering into this Dharma-cloud, even the perceptional demon himself (Mara), loses his ability to shape and control one’s spirit since he is now no longer the master of the game.

This entrance into the Dharma-cloud is a great blessing as one escapes all rules of perception that evaporates in the presence of divine darkness—a luminous light that is dark and obscure for the carnal mind, yet a brilliant primordial luminosity that nudges the sleeping spirit and says, “Awake-awake! Arise from your slumber, a new day is rising!” Even one’s “understanding” departs from itself and is changed from natural to divine; there is no longer a need to acquire “knowledge” itself, since that feeble, perceptionally-handicapped enterprise now gives way to the Bright Bodhicitta that is akin to the Unborn Will Itself.

Within this Sacred Cloud a new day has dawned; one is free to celebrate the beginning of a journey into Unborn Light, when all former attachments and associations fade away into dharmameghic ecstasy.  One is now empowered, through the Unborn Spirit, saying, “Take, O Imageless One, all my former memories, understandings, even my entire will—everything conceivable that I used to call my own. Through the self-realization of Noble Wisdom I can see clearer now that You Alone are the Source of my being; I now surrender all my former sensate imperfections and ask to be enlightened through your Unborn Will alone. Give me only your love and grace, for I am rich enough through what You will reveal to me…this I ask and nothing more.”

Tags: Bright Bodhicitta, Dharma, perception, samsara